Bitcoin Whale Carrying $178 Million In BTC Wakes Up, But It’s Not All Bad News

With the market consolidating after a massive run that pushed Bitcoin’s price above $30,000, a long-dormant BTC has awoken. This wallet has been inactive for almost a decade with BTC which was acquired at very cheap prices. And now, this whale has reentered the market with a massive stash of BTC to boot.

Dormant Bitcoin Whale Worth $178 Million Becomes Active

According to a report from on-chain data aggregator Lookonchain, a dormant Bitcoin address started transacting after almost 10 years of inactivity. The interesting thing about this wallet is the amount of BTC that it held in its balance.

At the time that the wallet was last transacted, which was on December 19, 2013, it held a total of 6,071.5 BTC. Now, back in 2013, one BTC was retailing for around $663, data shows, which is when this whale had acquired their coins.

A whale with 6,071.5 $BTC($178M) that has been dormant for 9.3 years transferred 2,071.5 $BTC($60.7M) out today.

And the 2,071.5 $BTC was finally transferred to the address starting with “bc1q”.

The whale received 6,071.5 $BTC on Dec 19, 2013, when the price was $663. pic.twitter.com/CBpoIy2mEk

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 20, 2023

The owner of this wallet proceeds to not make any move even through the multiple bull markets that BTC has seen. However, it finally made its first transaction in almost a decade on April 20, 2023, transferring 2,071.5 BTC worth $60.7 million at the time of the transaction.

Now, while this would normally be bearish for BTC, it does not seem like this whale is looking to sell. The transaction was not made to a centralized exchange, which would normally signify an intent to sell. Rather it was sent to another unknown wallet where the BTC now sits.

Reasons For Long Dormancy

This is not the first time that a dormant wallet carrying a large amount of BTC would return to being active and it is unlikely to be the last. There are multiple reasons why wallets would become dormant, ranging from a loss of private keys to death. In cases like this, it is likely that the owner of the wallet was finally able to regain access to the wallet after a number of years.

However, as one user points out under Lookonchain’s post, another reason could be that the owner of the wallet was in prison. In the end, it is all speculation as to why the whale held for that long without selling any tokens.

BTC returns to $28,000 territory | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

As for Bitcoin, the digital asset is holding up somewhat nicely considering the circumstances. Bulls seem to have developed support for BTC just above $28,800 where the coin currently trades. However, the euphoria that gripped the market last week has begun to wear off and the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index has returned to neutral, pointing toward a reluctance to enter the market at current prices.